Cable yarding in France and in Swiss Romandie: status quo and adapted measures within the two different organizations

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1 Cable yarding in France and in Swiss Romandie: status quo and adapted measures within the two different organizations Forest Engineering Conference, Rotorua, New Zeeland, April 2018 PAUL MAGAUD, Institute of Technology FCBA, FRANCE Project funded in the frame of the European cooperation program France Suisse

2 FORMICABLE Project Interreg Project: cooperation between France and Switzerland: Promote cable yarding Develop training for young foresters and enterprises Find new solutions and organization to boost cable yarding Share good practices Built a common culture. In French! What is the current situation for cable yarding in both countries? Survey 2017

3 CONTEXT The same number of companies. But A large difference between cable yarded volumes 2016 France Swiss Romandie Cable crane enterprises Harvested volume by cable yarding(m³/an) Total harvested volume (m³/an) Proportion of total volume harvested with cable 0,23% 12,30% France Swiss Romandie Companies during the last 10 years: o France: 12 new and 11 loss o Swiss Romandie: no change

4 MATERIALS The same material is used: Cable crane on a trailer, 3 to 4 tons capacity Still some long span skyline in Switzerland No more in action in France

5 MATERIALS Radio control chokers Used by 44 % of French companies Rarely used in Swiss Romandie Processing at road side: Used by 56% of French companies Rarely used in Swiss Romandie France: Fewer men on the field site More mechanization

6 Harvested volume per year (m 3 ) COMPANIES Swiss enterprises: Harvest more /year Some have several cable systems Specialized in cable logging Manager = manager French enterprises: 1 cable yarding team /company Diverse activities Managers = excavator operator Average 9500 m 3 /year Average 4600 m 3 /year Swiss Cable yarding enterprises French Cable yarding enterprises Harvested volume for each enterprise, French vs Swiss

7 SILVICULTURE Clear cut is forbidden in Switzerland, and represent 30% in France Dominance trend in both countries: o blank cuts (many small clear cuts <0.5ha) France Blank Sélective thinning Swiss Romandie Fishbone thinning clear cut Blank cut Fishbone thinning

8 TRAINING Switzerland: 2 cable logging schools Maienfeld (German) Mont sur Lausanne (French) maintain and develop skills One until 2007 No more since France: Added to the rapid turn over in the companies: knowhow concentrated in few operators High risk of skills loss 10 trained operators needed, estimated by companies managers

9 ECONOMY Usually, mountains = skidder s area, because: easier to do (cultural habit) and a lot of skidders The cost of road construction are accounted elsewhere less expensive skidder Câble crane Purchase price 150 à 300 k 100 à 550 k Working days/year Numbers of workers 1 2 Technical cost ( /day) 500 to to Average price of haulage 10 /m³ 32 /m³ Average price of harvesting (with cutting 22 /m³ 42 /m³ Average costs in France Wood price at road site (spruce & fire): 45 to 80 /m³ A difficult economical balance for the forest owner Few timber yard are proposed

10 ECONOMY Higher living costs in Switzerland Higher logging costs (salaries, supplies.) Governments provide subsidies for: Material investments Extension (studies, communication.) logging France France France and Swiss Romandie Swiss Romandie Logging costs ( /m³) 35 to to 100 Logging Subsidies ( /m³) 6 to to 95 Costs and logging subsidies in France and Swiss Romandie Economical balance is better in Swiss Romandie More companies More stable in time

11 RECOMMANDATIONS 1- Increase the number of logging sites Communication on the benefits of cable yarding (landscape, protection of soil, rock fall, erosion.) Maintain & increase subsidies Find another sources of subsidies (non-timber activities: water, tourism.) Find winter logging site (flat terrain, swamp areas, small mountains) to increase the numbers of working days

12 RECOMMANDATIONS 2- improve the efficiency of all stakeholders Massify logging sites with multi forest owners (private and public) Develop a global silvicultural approach by forest area rather than small properties Provide a multi year calendar and contract agreement for companies 3- improve the efficiency of logging companies Propose capacity building activities to reach critical size, Encourage the diversity of machine size (small on a tractor to big ones on a truck) Propose training to managers and operators to increase qualification and performance A new start for cable yarding in France an Swiss Romandie?

13 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Co authors: Stéphane GRULOIS and Baptiste BOGGIO (student) FCBA, France François SANDMEIER, ACSR, Switzerland